ELECTRICAL ENGINEERING PROBLEMS

Laplace Transforms: Finding the Laplace

Transform and Plotting the Poles and Zeros

Introduction
The Laplace transform is an important method of representing circuits
and signals. It is used to convert signals and component i-v
characteristics from the time domain to the frequency domain.

Statement
Find the Laplace transform for a given waveform.
Plot the poles and zeros for the resulting transform.

Parameters
The function is given by

 α − α ⋅t 
⋅cos ( β ⋅t) + ⋅sin( β ⋅t)  ⋅Φ ( t)
− α ⋅t
f ( t) =  e ⋅e
 β 

Solution
The expression provided includes the Heaviside step function, Φ(t).
You will generally see this function in circuits books. The Laplace
transform function in Mathcad assumes that the function starts at t = 0
and is 0 before that time. Although it is not necessary to include this in
your expression, it is wise to get in the habit of doing it. To take the
transform, we reproduce the function here, select one of the t's, then
select Symbolics - Transform - Laplace.

 α − α ⋅t 
⋅cos ( β ⋅t) + ⋅sin( β ⋅t)  ⋅Φ ( t)
− α ⋅t
f ( t) =  e ⋅e
 β 
has Laplace transform
( s + 2 ⋅α )
laplace ( f ( t) , t , s) =
( s2 + 2 ⋅s⋅α + α 2 + β 2)

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 From this expression, we can find the zeros and the poles by solving the
following equations for s. Again, we can use the symbolic processor by
selecting an s, then selecting Symbolics - Variable - Solve. First the poles:

2 2 2
s + 2 ⋅s ⋅α + α + β = 0
has solution(s)

 −α + i⋅β  p1 ( α , β ) := −α + i ⋅β p2 ( α , β ) := −α − i ⋅β
 
 −α − i⋅β 

The zero in this case can be written down by inspection.

z ( α ) := −2 ⋅α

The pole-zero diagram is fairly simple for this case.

α ≡5 β ≡ 25

40

0
20
Im ( p1 ( α , β ) )

Im ( p2 ( α , β ) )
0
0

Im ( z ( α ) )
20

40
15 10 5 0 5
Re ( p1 ( α , β ) ) , Re ( p2 ( α , β ) ) , Re ( z ( α ) )

Finally, let's take the inverse Laplace transform of the Laplace transform.
We reproduce the function here, select one s, then select Symbolics -
Transform - Inverse Laplace.

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 ( s + 2 ⋅α )
( s2 + 2 ⋅s⋅α + α 2 + β 2)
F ( s) =

has inverse Laplace transform

α
invlaplace( F ( s) , s , t) = exp( −α ⋅t) ⋅cos ( β ⋅t) + ⋅exp( −α ⋅t) ⋅sin( β ⋅t)
β

We see that, in this case, we get back the same function as we started with.
But that is not always the case. For instance, let's take the inverse Laplace
transform of

A ⋅( s + z1) ⋅( s + z2)
F ( s) =
( s + p1) ⋅( s + p2) 2

has inverse Laplace transform

2 exp( −p1 ⋅t) exp( −p1 ⋅t)

invlaplace( F ( s) , s , t) = A ⋅p1 ⋅ − A⋅ ⋅p1 ⋅z2 − A ⋅
( p12 − 2 ⋅p1 ⋅p2 + p22) ( p12 − 2 ⋅p1 ⋅p2 + p22) ( p12
simplifies to

(
invlaplace( F ( s) , s , t) = − −p1 ⋅exp( −p1 ⋅t) − p1 ⋅t ⋅exp( −p2 ⋅t) ⋅z1 ⋅z2 − exp( −p2 ⋅t) ⋅p1 ⋅z1 − p1 ⋅t ⋅exp
2

As you can see, even after simplification, this is a very long expression.
The problem here is that F(s) is too general. If we define A and the
poles and zeros, and then take the inverse Laplace transform we get

900 ⋅s ⋅( s + 10)
F ( s) =
2
( s + 20) ⋅( s + 100)

has inverse Laplace transform

225 6975
invlaplace( F ( s) , s , t) = ⋅exp( −20 ⋅t) − 101250 ⋅t ⋅exp( −100 ⋅t) + ⋅exp( −100 ⋅t)
8 8

which is a little more comprehensible.

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 Reference:

[1] Thomas and Rosa, The Analysis and Design and Linear Circuits, 2nd Ed.,
Prentice-Hall, Inc., Upper Saddle River, NJ, 1998.

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 exp( −p1 ⋅t) exp( −p1 ⋅t) exp( −p2 ⋅t)
⋅p1 ⋅z1 + A ⋅ ⋅z1 ⋅z2 + A ⋅ ⋅p1 ⋅z2 + A
2
− 2 ⋅p1 ⋅p2 + p2
2
) ( p12 − 2 ⋅p1 ⋅p2 + p22) ( p12 − 2 ⋅p1 ⋅p2 + p22)

( −p2 ⋅t) ⋅p22 − exp( −p2 ⋅t) ⋅p1 ⋅z2 + exp( −p1 ⋅t) ⋅p1 ⋅z2 + p1 ⋅t⋅exp( −p2 ⋅t) ⋅p2 ⋅z2 + p1 ⋅t⋅exp( −p2 ⋅t) ⋅p2 ⋅z

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 exp( −p2 ⋅t) 2 exp( −p2 ⋅t) exp( −p2 ⋅t)
A⋅ ⋅p2 − 2 ⋅A ⋅ ⋅p1 ⋅p2 + A ⋅ ⋅p1 ⋅z1
( p12 − 2 ⋅p1 ⋅p2 + p22) ( p12 − 2 ⋅p1 ⋅p2 + p22) ( p12 − 2 ⋅p1 ⋅p2 + p22)

z1 + 2 ⋅exp( −p2 ⋅t) ⋅p1 ⋅p2 + exp( −p1 ⋅t) ⋅p1 ⋅z1 − exp( −p1 ⋅t) ⋅z1 ⋅z2 − t ⋅exp( −p2 ⋅t) ⋅p2 ⋅z1 + t ⋅exp( −p2 ⋅
2

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 exp( −p2 ⋅t)
⋅z1 ⋅z2 − t ⋅exp( −p2 ⋅t) ⋅ ⋅p2 ⋅z2 + t ⋅exp( −p2 ⋅t) ⋅p2 ⋅
A 2 A
1 − A⋅
( p12 − 2 ⋅p1 ⋅p2 + p22) ( −p2 + p1) ( −p2 + p1

⋅t) ⋅z1 ⋅z2 ⋅p2 − t ⋅exp( −p2 ⋅t) ⋅p2 ⋅z2 + t ⋅exp( −p2 ⋅t) ⋅p2 − exp( −p2 ⋅t) ⋅p2 + exp( −p2 ⋅t) ⋅z1 ⋅z2 ⋅
2 3 2
) A

( −p2 +

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 − t ⋅exp( −p2 ⋅t) ⋅ ⋅p2 ⋅z1 + t ⋅exp( −p2 ⋅t) ⋅
A A
⋅z ⋅z
1) ( −p2 + p1) ( −p2 + p1) 1 2

A
+ p1)
2

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